A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

This episode is entirely about anime and manga which itself is about obsessive fans of anime and manga, or otaku. Gerald reviews Otaku no Video, Clarissa reviews Genshiken, and Daryl reviews Welcome to the NHK.

Introduction (0:00 – 20:05)Gilles Poitras calls in to enlighten us on the proper way to pronounce his name, but we still pronounce it differently anyway despite hearing exactly how it’s supposed to be said. We must be manifesting the same brain disorder that guides so many people to pronounce “Naruto” as “nuh-ROO-to” despite the fact that they don’t pronounce it like that in either the Japanese or English versions of the show. We read listener mail, where we discover that Megatokyo is actually unintentional parody and that Kannazuki no Miko totally sucks. Actually, we knew that already, but it’s good to hear it from other people, much like it’s good to hear people talk about how good Giant Robo is. For the sake of staying on topic, Daryl is rather dismissive of one email asking about Western animation, but he’d written a full-length response to the guy in email form. Then the guy’s email address had permanent fatal errors. If you’re reading the show notes, let me know. Finally, we end with a special message from everyone’s favorite shouting tin cans…FROM SPACE!

Let’s News! (20:05 – 34:50)The official Genshiken website has been cryptically updated for the first time in quite some time, and we can only hope that means that the second season of Genshiken may happen after all, but there’s no telling at this point. Plus, it’s old news by now, but Central Park Media, one of the oldest US anime licensors, laid off a whole bunch of people, and well, that’s what we talk about for pretty much the entirety of this segment.

Graviton City: The best place out there for information on Project Ako

Promo: Anime 101 (34:50 – 35:32)We’ll admit it. All too often we make the mistake of assuming people know what we’re talking about, except for the times when Daryl deliberately makes a joke that only two people can actually get. Vespaholic from Anime Genesis has decided to start up this podcast dedicated to covering the basics. So if you don’t know what we’re talking about and you don’t feel like checking our show notes or asking us to elaborate, thus giving us the impression that nothing’s wrong, perhaps this will be of help. [Daryl: Actually, after listening to their ninth episode, there's a fair amount of misinformation and potentially bad advice here. Well, the same goes for us, but we're doing it on purpose for the sake of jokes!]

Review: Otaku no Video (35:32 – 50:48)Gerald starts things off by reviewing Animeigo’s release of the classic Gainax OAV about the fictionalized account of the rise, fall, and rise again of the studio in the early 1980s. The “Portrait of an Otaku” segments are what make this one so memorable since people can often draw similarities to people they know from them. Gerald is a combination of “Mr A” and the “don’t you think Hiroko is pretty?” guy, and Clarissa is, of course, Miss Honda. Daryl Surat is like the guy who has all the tapes and stuff for the sake of having it, since he barely watches all this stuff he downloads and buys.

Promo: Anime Genesis (50:48 – 51:14)The promos Benu sent us way back when are out of date since they mention the old website address, and because of that we haven’t really been running their promos. Still, it’s been so long since we ran an AG promo that we figured we’d just go with the one we’ve got. Personally, I wish this podcast wasn’t like, 80% them reading the headlines from Anime News Network or whatever, but check them out. Hmm, they’ve had Mick Aloha, Apocalypse Dowell, and the Anime Pulse guys on as guests. I think an AWO coup might be in order, just as soon as we finish recording a promo for them.

Review: Genshiken (51:14 – 1:05:36)Clarissa explai…er, tells us about this much more recent anime and manga series that provides a much more evenhanded portrayal of otaku in the modern day. Of the shows we review this week, Genshiken is the most accessible, so don’t worry so much about catching all the references. In terms of character similarities, Gerald acts like Madarame and Daryl looks like him. I guess that makes Clarissa er…Kousaka.

Promo: Ninja Consultant (1:05:36 – 1:06:36)Erin was one person who wrote in to tell us exactly what makes the Apocalypse Dowell as well-loved as it is (in a nutshell, it’s all the stuff Daryl wasn’t interested in) while also conveying a riveting tale of Asian dudes who had Nazi swastikas hanging in their cubicle because they didn’t quite know what it meant. To steal one from Colt Cabana, “good times, great memories.”

Review: Welcome to the NHK (1:06:36 – 1:21:22)It’s only fitting that Daryl review the most harsh otaku title of what we’re reviewing this week. This is a manga about a guy which most people would not find endearing or appealing in the slightest, so Daryl can relate and tell YOU exactly what’s going on in this guy’s head. Yeah, that’s the ticket: “this guy.” Warning: the stark, bleak realities revealed in this segment may be too intense, too depressing, and too awesome for most listeners to handle.

Closing (1:21:22 – 1:26:33)Next week is the disaster themed episode! Actually, there’s not really a theme, but Gerald’s going to review the explosively disastrous Spriggan, Clarissa’s going to review this really…corny disaster known as My Sexual Harassment, and Daryl’s going to finally bite the bullet and unveil what may or may not be the first of many parts, as he relays his discoveries during his search for THE TRUTH at JACON 2006. Or, if you prefer, “The Japanese Animation Convention is Decadent and Depraved.” Prepare yourselves if you want any hopes of survival.

9 comments:

Just listening to Show #22 while proofing Vol. 1 of "The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service," so I appreciate your downloadable company.

1.) You're right about how ICZER-1 is the definitive lesbian giant robot epic.

2.) At Otakon '95, Toshio Okada explained GIANT ROBO as the sort of thing Gainax might have produced, if they happened to be less confused.

3.) DR. WHO is more of a bad sentai show than an anime show. In fact, they should just hand it over to the Japanese and let them produce it instead, as they're good at the whole "Science Fiction on No Dollars a Day" approach.

4.) See, the reason they're making KUJI-UN instead of more GENSHIKEN is because that's exactly the choice the members of the club would have made. It's a meta-move.

5.) An interesting observation that there are more old school fans now than ever before.

6.) The bit about waiting in line for NAUSICAA in ONV is one of the events that actually happened; ANIMAGE did a whole photo spread on the Calcutta-like throngs heaped on the street about the theater.

7.) Thanks for Rich's speech on soft vinyl. It was really fucking great!

Great listening to yet another stab at the otaku culture via anime, manga and all things related!

Love listening to the one Bakshi/Bluth/Furry fan rant about why you don't say anything about that. I think I might've saw some of his posts in a forum someplace. I don't have anything against the furry community, but there are times when I can get a little irritated by how far that one has went. Some of it is OK, but it can get a bit creepy (besides porn), such as the fetish for macro furries or cartoon characters who inflate themselves like balloons (never could understand the interest in that). I usually also don't go for the type that like to ape the conventions of Shonen/Shojo comics/cartoons in their creations and the characters don't look very appealing at all.

Possibly the best "Disipline" reading I've heard since!

Great hearing of how Gavigan got to view Giant Robo on the big screen via 35mm (I assume that was the format they had the film in). Best I have are 16mm prints of a few Japanese cartoons in my collection.

Gerald's review of Otaku no Video was perfect as usual, and yes, you'd have to be pretty aware of where the references come from in order to figure out that one. I've already watched it myself, and got nearly most of those already for having seen much of that by now (linear notes help as well).

I still wonder how much an Otaking I could be, though my personal dream is to becoming an animator or own my own studio for it (thankfully not for porn).

Giving the ads for the other anime-related podcasts, I see some use for "Anime 101" for the newbies out there, but "Anime Genesis" wasn't nearly in my league with the way they do the news and such, but a few might find it enjoyable if they don't care to read Anime News Network dailyi.

Have to pick up the "Genshiken" manga soon. "Welcome to the NHK" sounds quite interesting, and I hope I don't see myself in the main character's problems, being 28 and still living with my folks, I'm starting to feel like I'm becoming the Chris Elliot character in "Get A Life" if I don't cut it out! :-)

TEEN FISTING! (amazing the kind of people who do visit your podcast because of those words)

Another great show. I loved the review of Genshiken, I've been getting the manga since the first one was released, and what a coincidence that my copy of Otaku no Video is on the way. Welcome to the NHK sounds like its going to be like reading an auto-biography, but I'll find out it October...

Teen fisting... Lol.

I have to see this video of Gerald being stabbed. It sounds like an epic moment in podcast history.

after checking the animeigo site, i noticed they still never added the reference that i made mention to them all those years ago, that the 'little girl' and transformed-state are Satsuki and Misty May(Mei), ala the sisters from Totoro.